“Depression is the most unpleasant thing I have ever experienced… it is that absences of being able to envisage that you will ever be cheerful again. The absence of hope. That very deadened, which is so very different from feeling sad. Sad hurts but it’s a healthy feeling. It’s a necessary thing to feel. Depression is very different.”- J.K. Rowling
Some people describe depression as drowning while everyone around you is breathing, while others describe it as suffocating yourself but not dying. According to mental health statistics, 8,700 kids from ages five to 10 are seriously depressed and about 62,000 kids from ages 11 to 16 are seriously depressed. Approximately three kids in every classroom have some form of depression. Doctors wouldn’t diagnose five year olds with depression in the past. The age for being diagnosed with depression is getting younger and younger. What is the cause of kids as young as five having depression?
Depression can be caused by genetics, abuse, certain medications, conflict, death or loss, major events, other personal problems, sever illness and substance abuse. Some doctors will even say school causes depression. Depression can be caused by many things. When you think of depression you would probably think of an adult going through a hard time, or a teenager who’s just going through “that stage.” Normally you wouldn’t think of a kid as young as five having depression.
It’s normal for kids to get upset and not want to talk to anybody for a day, but when one day starts turning into months, the kid is developing depression. Some signs of depression are: you can’t sleep or you sleep too much, you can’t concentrate or find easy tasks difficult, you feel hopeless and helpless, you can’t control your negative thoughts, you have lost your appetite or you can’t stop eating, you are much more irritable, short-tempered, or aggressive than usual, engage in risky behavior and you have thoughts that life is not worth living.
These symptoms are a real problem. If a kid has depression then it is troubling to their health, and their social life. Having depression while in school is very difficult for a kid. They can’t concentrate, are always sleepy, irritable, and seeing everyone happy around them can make them even more depressed.  Teachers may think that a student doesn’t care about school, when in reality they have depression. Some teachers are harder on kids when they think they aren’t trying. Being hard on a kid who has depression can make matters worse. It will start leading to bad thoughts, and make the student want to stop trying at school because they think it doesn’t matter. Being hard on a kid with depression is just going to push them away.
Not everyone who doesn’t try in school has depression, just like how not everyone who acts happy at school is not depressed. Some kids are really good at hiding their depression. Anyone sitting beside you could have depression and you not know it. That’s why it’s very important for you to pay close attention for symptoms of depression.
A myth about depression is if someone says they have it, then they just want attention. Odds are that they really have depression. If someone tells you they have depression they either want help, need someone to talk to or need some encouragement. If someone tells you they have depression you need to tell a trusted adult immediately. Depression can lead to suicide, alcohol or drug abuse, self harm, anorexia, bulimia and other harmful behaviors.
Anyone can have depression, your classmate, best friend and even you. Depression isn’t something that happens to certain people. You can be the happiest person, but all it takes is one bad thing after another and you have depression. You can go for an A+ student to a barely getting a C student. Depression can cause you to lose your energy, so you don’t feel like getting up for school in the morning. It can also cause you to not care about anything at all. You’ll stop having hope, and you’ll stop wanting to live. These symptoms are scary to think about, especially when you think about a five year old having them.
There are about 300 kids in 9th grade at Greene County Tech Jr. High. According to the statistic in the second paragraph -approximately three kids in every classroom have depression- that would mean there are roughly 90 kids with depression. It may not seem like a lot, but it’s only one grade. If you added every other grade, then it would seem a great deal more.
The rate of children having depression is growing more and more cases are being discovered every day. The awareness for children having depression is not growing as fast as cases are being discovered. Most people still think it’s impossible for five year olds to have depression. If there was more awareness for children having depression, the better the chance of helping a child who has it.